Senate held discussion on Sahiwal incident

Islamabad, January 21 (Online): The senate on Monday held discussion on Sahiwal incident with senators demanding action against those responsible for Sahiwal incident. The Chair in his ruling directed Senate Standing Committee on Interior to immediately take up the matter regarding Sahiwal incident and present a comprehensive report after complete investigation within one week to the House.
The Chair further said the report should contain a plan to prevent such incident in future and to take care of children of the deceased family. Speaking on a Point of Public Importance in the House, Leader of the Opposition Raja Zafar-ul-Haq demanded an open discussion and transparent investigations into the incident to take the culprits to task. He said we reject the so-called JIT and want action in real sense.
Sherry Rehman said the ever changing stances of the Punjab and the federal governments have created concern among people regarding a true probe into the Sahiwal incident. She said killing of parents in front of their children is very painful. She said that the tradition of extra-judicial killing should come to an end in Pakistan.
Siraj-ul-Haq said it is very serious matter as the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees right to life to every citizen. He said the government has taken several U-turns over the matter. He said the government has vowed to give an exemplary punishment to the culprits, but in the same breath it dubbed the deceased people as terrorists.
Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said a thorough probe is needed into the incident and putting it under the carpet will set a wrong precedent. He said the chair should issue a strict ruling to take the responsible of Sahiwal incident to the task. Usman Khan Kakar said Punjab government claimed that Counter Terrorism Department took action on the basis of intelligence reports that some terrorists were traveling in the vehicle intercepted near Sahiwal. He said strict action should be taken against those, who provided wrong intelligence. He said those, who are responsible for this incident should be punished within one month after completing detailed probe.
Dr. Jehanzeb Jamaldini said no politics should be made over this matter and everyone should join forces for a true probe into this incident. He said killings in Balochistan have become a routine and no one seems ready to take care of this. He demanded to form a parliamentary commission comprising opposition and the treasury benches to probe the Sahiwal incident.
Sitara Ayaz said the police have killed innocent people, which is condemnable. She said on the one hand, Punjab Government announces compensation for the deceased, while on the other hand, CTD termed them terrorists. She said the government has formed a JIT to cover-up the matter.
Faisal Javed said Prime Minister Imran Khan has assured that strict action will be taken against those responsible for the unfortunate incident. He said PTI Government would never spare any wrongdoer. He said Punjab Government has announced that JIT report would be presented tomorrow and responsibility would be fixed. He said the government is going to introduce reforms in the Punjab police to prevent misuse of authority and power.
Those, who also spoke on the occasion, include Mir Kabeer Ahmed Muhammad Shahi, Kauda Babar, Javed Abbasi, Kalsoom Parveen, Robina Khalid, Mushtaq Ahmed, Shahzad Waseem, Azam Khan Swati, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Rehman Malik and Ateeq Sheikh.
Ends/Online/MR/ZM